ous confession.

"Are you afraid they listen?" he said. "Be tranquil; I have nothing to
conceal. I was taken in the act."

"Alas!" said Jeanne, weeping bitterly; "how calmly you say this!"

"If I spoke warmly what should I gain by it? Come, listen to reason,
Jeanne. Must I have to console you?"

Jeanne wiped her eyes and sighed.

"Well, to go back to my affair," continued Pique-Vinaigre. "I had nearly
reached Auteuil, in the dusk. I could not go any farther, and I did not
wish to enter Paris but at night; so I sat down behind a hedge to rest
myself, and reflect on my plan of campaign. My reflections sent me to
sleep, and when the sound of voices awoke me it was night. I listened.
It was a man and woman, who were talking as they went along on the other
side of the hedge. The man said to the woman, 'Who do you think would
come and rob us? Haven't we left the house alone a hundred times?'
'Yes,' replied the woman; 'but then we hadn't a hundred francs in the
drawers.' 'Who knows that, you fool?' says the husband. 'You are right,'
replies the wife; and on they went. _Ma foi!_ the occasion seemed to me
too favourable to lose, and there was no danger. I waited until they got
a little farther on, and then came from behind the hedge, and, looking
twenty paces behind me, I saw a small cottage, which I was sure must be
the house with the hundred francs, as it was the only habitation in
sight. Auteuil was about five hundred yards off. I said to
myself,'Courage, old boy,--there is no one. Then it is night; if there
is no watch-dog (you know I was always afraid of dogs), why, the job is
as good as done.' Luckily there was no dog. To make sure I knocked at
the door. Nothing. This encouraged me. The shutters were closed on the
ground floor, but I put my stick between and forced them. I got into the
window, and in the room the fire was still alight. So I saw the drawers,
but no key. With the tongs I forced the lock, and under a heap of linen
I found the prize, wrapped in an old woollen stocking. I did not think
of taking anything else, but jumping out of the window, I alighted on
the back of the garde-champetre, who was returning home."

"What a misfortune!"

"The moon had risen. He saw me jump from the window and seized me. He
was a fellow who could have eaten a dozen such as I was. Too great a
coward to resist, I surrendered quietly. I had the stocking still in my
hand, and he heard the money chink, took it, put it in his game